Colas Rail and Coventry council take BCIA innovation award for very light rail track slab

Colas Rail UK and Coventry City Council have won the Innovation Impact Award at the 2026 British Construction & Infrastructure Awards (BCIA) for the Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) demonstrator track, Colas Rail announced on 9 November.

Colas Rail said the award recognised the research, development and proof-of-concept installation of what it calls the patented Universal Track Slab. The contractor said the slab had recently been installed as part of a 300m twin-track section on Mile Lane in Coventry city centre during the second phase of the project.

According to Colas Rail, the slab is thinner than conventional embedded light rail track, so less excavation is needed to install it. The company said this cut installation time, cost, disruption and construction carbon emissions.

The BCIA judges said: "This project team are challenging the norms that stand in the way of implementing innovation at scale." They added: "The judges feel this pioneering entry will not only realise benefits in Coventry but across the UK."

The programme so far

Phase one of CVLR was a 220m demonstrator track on Greyfriars and Queen Victoria Road in Coventry city centre. Colas Rail said construction began in March 2025 and finished on programme in mid-May 2025. The council said the track was laid in eight weeks.

Councillor Jim O'Boyle, cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change at Coventry City Council, said more than 3,000 people rode the vehicle during the 2025 test rides. The council has said CVLR could be delivered at less than half the cost and in half the time of conventional light rail systems.

Phase two followed the council's Full Council approval in January 2026. Colas Rail described it as an 800-metre twin-track connection between Coventry Station and Coventry University Technology Park. In February 2026 the contractor said surveys were complete and procurement of the track slabs was under way.

The council said Mile Lane closed to traffic from Tuesday 2 June, between Listers Garage and the railway bridge, and would remain closed until late autumn. In a 6 August 2026 update the council said it was laying the VLR track slabs along the route after Severn Trent's water main renewal and drainage work had been completed. The council's page does not name the slab-laying contractor; Colas Rail says the Mile Lane installation is its work.

In July 2026 Arup and Partners submitted a planning application on the council's behalf for a temporary stabling and depot structure, welfare units and two temporary passenger platforms, the council said.

The funding

The council said in January 2023 that the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) board had agreed the first instalment, £36.8m, of an expected £72m investment in CVLR. The full £72m was earmarked from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, and the council said much of it would be used to build a real-world demonstration track in the city centre.

Iain Anderson, Urban Managing Director at Colas Rail UK, said: "This recognition reinforces the system's potential to deliver more cost-effective, sustainable and innovative solutions for light rail networks, both in the UK and internationally."

Mid Cornwall Metro

Colas Rail said the South Rail Systems Alliance (SRSA) was also Highly Commended in the Social Infrastructure Project of the Year category at the BCIA for its part in the Mid Cornwall Metro programme.

The SRSA is an alliance between Network Rail, Colas Rail Ltd as installer and AECOM as designer. Colas Rail has described the 10-year contract as worth an estimated £1.5bn, spanning Control Periods 6 and 7 and covering the Anglia, South East, Wessex, Western and Wales routes.

What happens next

Colas Rail said phase two of CVLR was now nearing completion. The contractor said it was continuing to work with the council to develop the programme into a "live operations scenario" through 2027 and beyond.